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While I'm not necessarily stoked on the fact that the NSA has been recording private data (side note/common misconception: they did NOT record the actual audio of the phone calls; just who called who), I'm also not any more outraged or paranoid than I was before. The real question is, why has everyone been pretty much OK with the existence of this massive agency which shields nearly everything about itself to the citizens who fund it, until now? They had to be keeping something from us. If this is the worst thing that could be revealed about what the NSA has been doing to US citizens all these years, and it's serious enough to make headlines and be called a "leak" and force a guy to hide out in Hong Kong, then there's a part of me that's actually kind of relieved. Why is PRISM so frightening to people when we didn't really know a helluvalot about the NSA itself- and the NSA has existed for 60 years?

I feel as if I should be outraged about the phone thing, but I can't muster any fucks to give. If they were recording actual phone calls, then that would be a whole different story. Getting access to metadata is just whatever though. I know the whole "If you don't have anything hide..." cliche would get you laughed at by all the cool enlightened college kids if you ever utter it. The thing is, I kind of agree with it in this very specific context. If it helps catch terrorists or whatever, then take the damn metadata. I don't see why anyone would be so miffed about it, but go ahead and tell me what I'm missing. I've probably not thought it all the way through. (because of the lack of fucks) The only thing that bothers me about is the whole secrecy behind it.

- Mr Snowden is currently "in transit" in Russia. The FSB must have had a field day working on him. As an anecdote, I might add that Snowden cried out "I will go on fighting for human rights!" and Putin retorted "You'll do that without us, we have other fights to fight". I say, Vladimir love, wasn't "defence of human rights" one of the principles that you were supposed to uphold when you were inaugurated as President of the Russian Federation? Or does my memory deceive me?

- France has cravenly refused to give him asylum. We're ok with giving asylum to a Femen activist who desecrates everything she touches, but we're not ok with giving asylum to a man who's fighting on his own to protect human rights. We've got our President to thank for the wreck our country has become. But let us not forget we have the government we deserve.

- There are only three democracies in the world: Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua. These being the three countries that agreed to give Mr Showden asylum. I say, that ain't a whale of a lot...